Nero editor better than TMPGenc?

[idsane]

I first started editing old VHS movies in NERO vision 4 to splice together different segments, make cuts, etc. However, when I found that Nero wanted to re-encode some of the videos (even though they were all captured at the same quality) I ended up downloading the trial TMPGenc DVD author 2.0 (after many many other crappy trial programs). I like editing with this program much more than nero, and it doesn't seem to re-encode files, but the output is flawed. After making my cuts and splices, and burning the output files to the hard drive, I noticed that the program made improper splices and cut out segments as long as 5 minutes. When I look at the output file in the editor portion of DVD author, it shows the same thing, really weird splices. Everyone seems to rave about this program, so am I doing something wrong or is this a program flaw? I am making cuts by clicking on the GOP, it highlights pink, and I select 'set as end frame' or 'set as start frame'. Then I add another clip in the same track either with or without cuts, but when TMPG joins these clips together, it messes up the splice. So..... anyone have any thoughts on this. Thanks for any help.

[redwudz]

Just a guess, as I rarely edit MPEG, but if the editor is not cutting on a keyframe or I frame, you may have to re-encode at least the part where the edit point is if you cut elsewhere. Most MPEG editors should select the I frames automatically.

I would try a different editor, like VideoReDo or MPEG-VCR or similar.

This is more common of a problem with highly compressed AVI type files, such as Xvid, that has a keyframe every 300 frames by default. This makes frame accurate editing very difficult. A format like DV has every frame as a keyframe, so it's one of the easiest to edit.

Unfortunately, if this is your problem, there's no simple cure except some re-encoding of the edit cut points if they aren't on a I frame. But, as mentioned, I rarely edit MPEG, so there may be another explanation.

[guns1inger]

Regardless of editor, if you don't cut on a I-frame, at least some of the footage will have to be re-encoded. This is simply because of the temporal nature of mpeg encoding.

Personally, I would not trust an authoring tool to edit my software, but then I wouldn't use Nero either.

[Alex_ander]

I think you have to first add all the parts to the track and then apply the cut-editing. The same problems were reported of when people first edited a video on timeline and then changed the audio track without resetting cut-edits applied (there's usually a dialog shown to reset or not). TDA uses a single timeline for a track and does nothing but adding cut time-points to the temporary project file and applies them to the video at the outputting process. This might explain why the edits applied to the first added video appear to be applied to the next added. So try to first join all the parts, then cut.